Meet the Teachers: Printer-Friendly Version

One of England's pre-eminent swim teachers, Frank Kennedy of the UK's SWIM2000, specializes in the fearful swimmer.

Relaxnswim recently caught up with him to discover what he does to help his students learn to swim so quickly and safely.

RelaxnSwim: Let's say you've just met your new, fearful student. How do you begin the lesson?
SWIM2000: The first step is to listen to my new pupil's problems.

R: Alright, so your student has just told you about her fear of water. You have an idea of her history, and she sees that you are listening to her. What comes next?
S: Then a "verbal contract" for each to try 100% for each other in the water. You can remind them of this agreement minutes later, when they first get near the point of refusing!

R: How is breath-holding taught in the UK?
S: Most UK teachers don't even ask their students to breathe in before instructing them to place their face in water for the first time!

R: Why would students want to breathe in before putting their faces in the water?
S: The "more" they can breathe in prior to submerging, the less chance of them sucking in water in a panic once they have submerged.

R: Your student has taken a breath and is holding it, face in the water. What about bubbling?
S: I disagree with most other teachers at this early stage. Blowing bubbles is to my mind blowing away good unused oxygen, reducing both the confidence and the time one needs to stay safely submerged, safely learning to float, learning to regain a standing position, and then learning to swim.
Blowing bubbles at this early stage greatly increases the risk of sucking water back in, or getting bubbles up the nose.

R: Hm, how do you keep water out of the nose?
S: On that problem area of The Nose, the great unsung early remedy is of course "Humming".
In my upcoming US seminar tour, "Humming" will be fully explained.

R: When are rhythmic, continual breathing skills introduced to the swim lesson?
S: I teach exhaling and rhythmic breathing as a totally separate package, several lessons apart, after the pupil is fully relaxed floating, can regain his feet, and is starting to learn to swim.

R: Does this mean the the student swims on one breath, then stands up?
S: Anyone can swim 10 metres initially without needing to breathe. A perfect stroke can be developed over 10 metres.

R: Develop the stroke, then add breathing last, right?
S: Yes, then the breathing practice is "blended together" with the then-efficient stroke.

.....................

Melon Dash
6/7/02

California, USA is home to a large proportion of the world's finest swim teachers. Among the most respected is M. Ellen Dash of her Transpersonal Swimming Institute.
Here is how her teaching method of 19 years works.

RelaxnSwim: How could a new student believe that you understand their fear?
Melon: I 'd say, "I know you are not afraid of kicking your legs in a flutter kick if you are lying on your bed. You are not afraid of doing an armstroke on land. I know that you are not afraid of exhaling your air into the air.
"You are afraid of losing control. You may be afraid of losing control if you put your face in water, as you might inhale.
"You may be afraid of losing control in the middle of deep water, where you can't stand up or reach the side. You are afraid of panicking and having that frantic feeling you've had before when you've been in water over your head."

R: What does your student really want to learn?
M: We don't teach bubble blowing, kicking or swimming mechanics. We teach you what you really want to know: "How do I remain in control in the water, shallow and deep?"
Once students learn how to be in control and remain in control, which is an incredibly simple skill, then learning the mechanics is easy. But mechanics cannot be learned nor expected to be learned when someone is not in control.

R: That's exactly what I would think if I were one of your students. So how to remain in control? How might the first lesson begin?
M: First, you are invited to share your story of how you became afraid in water with others in the class. You will find out that you are not alone.
Then we talk about you and I being not just a body, but spirit: a spirit that comes and goes from the body all day long; it goes when you daydream, comes back when someone knocks on the door.
It goes when you sleep, comes back when the alarm goes off, goes when you panic, comes back when you come back...but when you panic, there's no control over when or if it comes back.
Your fear is usually the fear of "losing it" (panicking) and about drowning.
For this reason, we teach people to prevent panic and remain in control.

R: How do your spirit's comings and goings affect how you learn?

M: When you panic or are afraid you might panic, you "leave". If you "leave", you cannot learn.
When you know how to be here, and remain here, you can then learn.
This learning comes as naturally as when you learned to walk: you learned to walk when you were ready, naturally and without help because you were completely present.
This is how our students learn.